The Second Most Important Sentence In Sales Copy...

If it's about getting people to "Directly Respond" to your copy, with the action you want them to take, this is the place for it
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SARubin
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The Second Most Important Sentence In Sales Copy...

Post by SARubin »

I think most of us would agree in copywriting our headline is the most important sentence we can write.

Because if the headline doesn't get the attention of our most likely buyers then the rest of the copy doesn't really matter, because nobody will ever read it anyway.

And while our headline might get peoples attention and gain a little interest, we're still hanging by a thread when it comes to pulling our reader deep into the copy.

That's why the next most important sentence is our lede sentence, or opening.


I still see far too many sales pages out there where the headline looks good, but then the opening goes off in a completely different, sometimes random direction.

Either a different tone or emotion, or sometimes a different, barely related, hook or angle altogether.


The thing is, when our headline attracts someone to our copy we need to keep their interest by giving them an introduction that ties directly into the headline.
For example...

If our headline is a testimonial type headline - i.e. "I Couldn't Believe How Easy it Was to Lose The Weight"

Then we just pulled people in with a human interest headline. It's someone telling their personal story, and we don't want to jump right in with a hard sales pitch because it breaks the flow. And any emotion we created with the headline gets destroyed and negated.

A good lede for that headline could begin with a story of the person losing the weight. This helps give our reader more of what attracted them to our offer in the first place.

And then we can begin to move towards the product and the actual offer.


And if our headline is a more hard hitting benefit driven headline - i.e. "Introducing an Amazing New Herbal Remedy That Helps You Shed up to 15 Pounds in One Week"

Then our reader will be better served with a more direct opening lede that gets right to the point - i.e. "Now you can safely and effectively lose up to 15 pounds, without ..."

or maybe "If you ever wanted to lose weight fast, without dieting or strenuous exercise, then..."

We can still go into a story if our copy structure allows for it, but that first sentence should flow directly from the headline if we want to achieve the greatest impact with our reader.


I believe it was Joe Sugarman, a brilliant marketer, who first taught me the concept of...
...The only purpose of our headline is to get people to read the 1st sentence of our copy...
...And the only purpose of our 1st sentence is to get people to read the 2nd sentence...
...And the only purpose of our 2nd sentence is to get them to read the 3rd sentence...
...And the only purpose of our 3rd sentence is to get them to read the 4th sentence...

Because by the time we pull people that deep into our copy, the commitment on the part of our reader makes them far more likely to read the rest of our copy... and when they actually read our copy it makes it far more likely they'll respond to our offer.


Thought for the day...
A good marketer knows how to think like a marketer - A great marketer learns how to think like the customer...
SARubin - Direct Response Copywriter / Conversion Flow Expert
VivaC
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Re: The Second Most Important Sentence In Sales Copy...

Post by VivaC »

That's really valuable information! I knew the hook was right behind the headline in importance, but I hadn't thought much about having it flow directly from the headline. You're right though, they want more of what they came for in the first place!
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SARubin
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Re: The Second Most Important Sentence In Sales Copy...

Post by SARubin »

Hi VivaC,

I'm glad you found a nugget of value here on the forums (almost makes it worth the price of admission, right? :D )
A good marketer knows how to think like a marketer - A great marketer learns how to think like the customer...
SARubin - Direct Response Copywriter / Conversion Flow Expert
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